Ethanol - Brazil - Presentation 3300

Ethanol An Answer or a Green Pipe Dream

Introduction • Biofuel is derived from recently living organisms or by-products. • Ethanol (best known) comes from the residues of specially-grown crops (sugar cane, sugar beet, oilseed rape or maize).

Important - Biofuels • Biofuels have one enormous, overwhelming pluspoint, which is that in theory - they are carbon-neutral.

Fossil Fuel – CO2 • When the fossil fuels are burned, they add carbon dioxide to the net amount of atmospheric. The carbon they release is new to the atmosphere, because it has been buried beneath the earth.

Biofuels – CO2 • On the other hand, when biofuels are burned, they are only releasing the CO2 which was absorbed from the atmosphere by the crops used to produce them as they grew.

Main Advantage • It was there already - so there is no net increase. • Biofuels are therefore classed as a renewable energy source, along with wind, wave and solar power.

Ethanol – Answer? • Its application have an immediate impact on road transport sector (main responsible for the growing greenhouse effect).

Ethanol – Brazil • It is already being widely used as a motor vehicle fuel in Brazil. • Brazil is the world's biggest producer (16 billion litres of the stuff annually).

Ethanol – Brazil • It is up to 55% cheaper than conventional petrol. • And "flex-fuel" vehicles can run on either fuel. (2/3 of Brazilian car market).

Ethanol - Advantages • They are carbon neutral and so do not add to net emissions of greenhouse gases and can lessen the demand for fossil fuels.

Ethanol – Drawbacks • The key point is this: to make a real difference at the margin of CO2 emissions, vast amounts of new cropland would be necessary.

Ethanol – Drawbacks • The biofuel market might become so big that this demand would be a powerful driver of rainforest destruction.

Ethanol – Drawbacks • Are we going to reduce CO2 emissions by wrecking somebody else's rainforest?

Lico Reis Consultoria & Línguas Prof. Roberto Lico Reis www.licoreis.com [email protected] E-books: www.migre.me/oQ5 Linkedin: www.migre.me/1d9r Twitter: @licoreis